| Summary: | Corporate lawyer and publisher John Jacob "Jake" Oliver was born on July 20, 1945 in Baltimore, Maryland. The great grandson of the Afro-American Newspaper founder John J. Murphy, he began college at the University of Maryland, but transferred, earning his B.A. degree from Fisk University in 1969 and his J.D. degree from Columbia University in 1972. Oliver began practicing corporate law in New York in 1972 with the law firm of Davis, Polk and Wardell. In 1978, he returned to Baltimore to serve as corporate counsel for General Electric. In 1982, Oliver returned to his family's newspaper as publisher, chairman and CEO of the Afro-American. Under Oliver's leadership, the Afro-American grew substantially, digitally connecting it to three offices in Baltimore, Washington, D.C. and Richmond. Oliver also served as a board member of the First Mariner Bank, past president of the National Newspaper Publishers Associations and served as chairman of the Maryland Higher Education Commission.
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